Emanuel habmon



UNITED VSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMANUEL- HARMON, or WASHINGTON, nls'rnor oF COLUMBIA.;

VPOSTAGE AND REVENUE STAMP.

.Topall whom it nwy concern;

Beit known thug: I, EMANUEL Hsmnomof the city ot .Wsshingtom and District of Go-` lumbio, have invented n. new and useful Ilmf provement in the Cancellation oflosta-ge or "Revenue Stamps; and I, do hereby declarethat thc foliowiug is a full and exact descrip# tion thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My in vention1hs for its object the preparation of a. letterpostage stamp or aV revenue-A stampin such manner that when the canceling:

lnin-rk ordinarilyl employed for csnceling the sume hasonee been' impressed thereon such canceling-mark 'cannot' be discharged y from 'the face ofthe stomp. without revealing -the fuc't thatthe stamp has been 'subjected to such canceling-mark.

I n` the drawings, Figure l represents a United States postage-stamp.v I

Upon the face of the stamp, as represented in Fig. 1, hy any suitable means l l impress rectngular or wiwed web lines -a, so that the entire area of the stump shall exhibit a. series of fine meshes, but of such .acharacter as not to obliterute thegdeuomin'ation ot' the stamp, as represented in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 4 represents one of the stannps having mcshed lines a thereon, us shown in one of the preceding-named iigures, together with the laddition ot' s canceling-mark, b,impressed thereon, as ordinarily done hy the ect of can celing letter-stamps. l

The ink employed with which to form the lines-ais also employed to form the cancelingmark b, und thus when the staxnps once canceled, as represented in Fig. 4, it will be impossible-te employ any chemical agent to remove the canceling-mark'b without .at the..

same ytime removing some portion of `the mesh'ed lines a., thus revealing the fact that the stamp has once been impressed with a' canceling-mark. In -this way it will be impossible to a letter or revenue stamp a second. time without detection.

D I cover the fece ofthe stamp with lines c,

es shown-in the figures, so thatif any portion of the canceling-mark is impressed upon the body otl the stamp such markwill be certain also to beimpressed npon'said lines.

Instead ot' covering'the fece of the stamp withV the lines au,V as shove' deslihed, such' lines may he omittedjaltogether; Inthat oase the canceling ot'I the- 'stsmp vshould be 4made with the same ink orcoloring-nist-ter' es that -A usedin printing the stamp,` or. any ess Atin'l part thereof, so that itsholl be impossilxlleto remove thefcancellut'ion without at the same 'time removing material portions oi the stam-p itself.'` A

1 am avverte that for the purpose of preventing the alteration 'or falsification vot' written documents a mode has been adopted of printing a design-Lin two colors upon paper, one

ot the designs being printed with in'delihle' ink, and the other with inkwhichl can be washed out, and upon which. printed colors..

the document is thereafter to be written; but this mode is objection-able, inasmuch es' the u riting-fluid thereafter employed towrite upon the designs composed oi printin gink in, di'c'rent colors ,might be subject to removal by chemical agents without removing either one ot' thel printed colors. This mode, therefore, I do notclaim; but i What I claim as my invention, and deire to lsecure by Letters Patent ofthe United S tes,

1. The employment ot' the same inkfto canoel a. letter or revenue stamp which has beenv previouslyvu'sed to Iimpresslines a. upon the face of the stamp, substantially asand for the purpose described.

2; In'cncelinga letter or revenue stamp,

thenseof the same ink or coloring-matter as that employed inprinting-the same; or any essential part thereof, in the manner and for the purpose above describeth E. HARMON.- Witnesses:

D.- Q. LAWRENCE, R. T. CAMPBELL. 

